Metering device for weft in looms



July 13 1955 A. c. KRUKONls ETAL 3,194,276

METERING DEVICE FOR WEFT IN LOOMS Filed Sept. 20,y 1965 2 Shee'cS-Sheel'l 1 FIG.

l 7l fl'w lhlllwllhn" "lullin H111!" lli'lllull T- i lurnhhlllulngp INVENTORS ALEXANDER C. KRUKONIS, DECEASED By MYRTLE KRUKONIS, ADMINISTRATRIX EDWIN F. DOLBEARE www ATTORNEY July 13, 1965 A. c. KRUKoNls ETAL 3,194,276

' METERING DEVICE FOR WEFT IN LOOMS ALEXANDER C. KRUKONIS, DECEASED By MYRTLE KRUKONIS,ADMINISTRATR|X EDWIN E DOLBEARE www ATTORNEY .between the weft laying needle and the package.

United States Patent O 3,194,276 METERING DEVICE FR WEET IN LOOMS Alexander C. Krukonis, deceased, late of Auburn, Mass., by Myrtle Krukonis, administrator, Auburn, Mass., and Edwin F. Dolbeare, Worcester, Mass., assignors to Crompton 8L Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass.

Filed Sept. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 311,285

. 2 Claims. (Cl. 139-124) weft package. As the needle reciprocates it draws weft from the package intermittently. This action jerks the filling and tends to draw off more filling than is needed,

causingan unevenness in the width of the fabric. At-

tempts to solve the problem have resulted in using various tension devices including a spring tension which is placed The spring yields from normal position at the time of greatest demand and then returns to normal position to take up the slack of any excess weft that has been drawn off. Even this improvement has not completely solved the problem of unevenness in the fabric. Due to the variable momentum of the filling, more or less of it will be drawn o than is needed as the needle makes its insertion. As a result the spring tension devices take up varying amounts of slack, thus producing variations in the weft tension, and hence also in the width of the fabric.

Another condition found in the type of loom mentioned is the socalled ballooning over the supply package which is also caused from the jerking of the filling as it is being pulled from the package. This ballooning upsets the normal twist in the filling either by untwisting it or twisting it further, the latter causing an unwanted crimp.

The foregoing tension and ballooning defects found in previous looms have been eliminated by the structure set forth herein by the addition of a positive feed roll which is placed between the weft package and the spring tension .means Because the amount of filling that is fed from the feed rolls to the spring tension means is fixed, the spring tension always has the same amount of slack to take up,

resulting in an even tension which produces cloth of uniform width.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a conical feed roll which is adjustable to feed different amounts of weft.

Another object of the invention is to provide means and method for adjusting the feed roll while the loom is running, one result of this condition being the possibility of effecting slight variations in the width of the fabric without stopping the loom.

These and otherobjects will appear from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show two forms of the invention, and wherein URE 4.

3,l4,276 Patented July 13, 1965 Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2 and the preferred form of the invention, there is shown a table top 1 of a loom L which supports a bearing stand 2 with right and left-hand bearing members 4 and 6 which have a shaft 3 rotatable therein. Shaft 8 extends through bearing members 4 and 6 and has affixed to its outer ends conical weft feeding rolls iti-10 by set screws 12-12.

Table l also supports right and left-hand harness frame guides 14 and 16 respectively between which harness frames 18 are reciprocated. Also supported on table top 1 is a reed or beat-up member 2t); also right and left-hand inserting needles 22 and 24 supported by needle holding arms 26 and 28 respectively which, through right and lefthand crank mechanisms 29 and 30, operate said Weft inserting needles to reciprocate through successive sheds in the warp W. Threaded through eyes 32 in needles 22 and 24 are right and left-hand lling threads F and F' which are to be incorporated into right and left-hand fabrics 34 and 36.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 1, the loom L has a main drive shaft 33 on which there is connected mechanism not shown to operate needles 22 and 24. Attached to the end of shaft 38 is a pulley 40 which drives another pulley 42 through a timing belt 44. Pulley 42 is fixed to rotate with reed shaft 46 which drives reed 2t) in timed relation with the reciprocating needles 22 and 24. Also fixed to shaft 46 is a pulley 48 which drives a pulley 49 through another timing belt 50. Pulley 49 is fixed to and rotates with shaft 8 which rotates weft feeding rolls 10 and 1G in timed relation with reed 20 and weft inserting needles 22 and 24. Y

The loom shown in FIGURE l is for weaving two individual pieces of fabric and the mechanism for feeding weft for one fabric is the same as for the other and it is deemed sufficient to describe the mechanism on the righthand side only of the loom for weaving fabric 34. Located on the outside of the loom L is a weft package 52 from which filling is drawn through a tension means 53, through a guide 54, and is given one wrap around feed roll 10, through another guide 5S, then forward and upward through a pair of guides 56 and 57 between which the filling passes through the eye 5S of a spring tension 59. After passing through guide 57 the filling passes through eye 32 of needle 22 and then to the cloth 34.

Referring to FIGURES 2 and 3, there is mounted on bearing member 4 a bracket 66 held in place on member 4 by bolts 61. Extension 62 of bracket 60 supports a block 63 which has a foot 63' slidable along a fiat surface 65 on the bracket 60, and has threaded through it a screw 64 which extends to an upwardly extending part 66 of bracket 60 which it is rotatably held and prevented from moving to the right or left as shown in FIGURE 3. Secured to the right-hand end of screw 64 by a set screw 66 is a knurled adjusting wheel or thumb grip 67. Rotation of wheel 67 causes block 63 to move to theleft or right along rod 64, depending on the direction of turning of screw 64. Block 63 has affixed thereto a guide positioner plate 70 which almost encompasses feed roll 10.

The upper end of plate 70 has two .spaced slots 71 and 72 through which passes the filling F prior to and then after being wrapped around roll 10 and which act to position the lling F along the length of feed roll 10. Slots 71 and 72 are formed deep enough into plate 70 so as to be lower than the smaller end of cone 1l). Plate 70 has right and left-hand extensions, as viewed inFIGURE 2, 

1. IN A LOOM OPERTING WITH A WEFT PACKAGE FROM WHICH WEFT IS FED TO THE LOOM TO BE INCORPORATED INTO A FABRIC BY WEFT LAYING MEANS, (A) WEFT FEEDING MEANS BETWEEN SAID PACKAGE AND SAID WEFT LAYING MEANS INCLUDING A GENERALLY CONICAL SURFACE HAVING THE WEFT TRAINED THEREAROUND AND ROTATABLE TO FEED A SELECTED AMOUNT OF WEFT TO SAID WEFT LAYING MEANS, (B) WEFT TENSIONING MEANS BETWEEN THE WEFT FEEDING MEANS AND THE WEFT LAYING MEANS TO RECEIVE SAID AMOUNT OF WEFT AND TO MAINTAIN A CONSTANT TENSION ON THE WEFT DURING FEEDING THEREOF TO SAID WEFT LAYING MEANS (C) A SECOND WEFT TENSIONING MEANS BETWEEN SAID WEFT FEEDING MEANS AND SAID PACKAGE TO MAINTAIN TENSION ON THE WEFT LEADING TO SAID FEEDING MEANS, (D) DRIVE MEANS FOR SAID WEFT FEEDING MEANS OPERATING TO ROTATE THE LATTER AT A CONSTANT RATE OF SPEED TO EFFECT FEEDING OF SELECTED AMOUNT OF WEFT, (E) GUIDE MEANS TO MAINTAIN THE WEFT IN POSITION ON SAID WEFT FEEDING MEANS, (F) ADJUSTABLE MEANS INCLUDING A SCREW PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE CONICAL SURFACE AND MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID GUIDE MEANS SCREW THREADED ON SAID SCREW EFFECTIVE UPON TURNING OF THE LATTER TO CAUSE THE GUIDE MEANS TO MOVE PARALLEL TO SAID AXIS OF THE CONICAL SURFACE, SAID MOVEMENT CAUSING THE WEFT TO MOVE ALONG THE WEFT FEEDING MEANS DURING LOOM OPERATION TO VARY THE RATE OF FEED OF WEFT TO THE LOOM TO VARY THE WIDTH OF THE FABRIC, (G) SAID LOOM HAVING A FLAT SURFACE PARALLEL TO SAID SCREW, AND SAID ADJUSTABLE MEANS CONNECTED TO THE GUIDE MEANS HAS A FOOT ENGAGING THE FLAT SURFACE ON EACH SIDE OF A RIGHT ANGLE PROJECTION OF THE AXIS OF THE SCREW ON SAID FLAT SURFACE. 